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» Boxing Lesson’s Jake Mitchell Sentenced As Narco-Terrorist Under Patriot Act

Jake Mitchell, the drummer for Austin’s Boxing Lesson, was sentenced a couple of weeks ago to 60 months in federal prison on marijuana charges. What makes Mitchell’s case particularly unsettling is that he was charged under the Patriot Act and has been branded a Narco-Terrorist. The band went public with the details today as Mitchell prepares to begin his sentence early next month, hoping to raise awareness of his case for the pending appeal and help support him and his family as they have lost everything. And the details only get more distressing.

According to the Boxing Lesson’s publicist, Ryan Cano, Mitchell’s wife is currently serving a six month sentence as a conspirator for not turning her husband in. While Cano acknowledges that the operation Mitchell was running out of his house in 2006 was certainly much more elaborate than a simple case of his growing pot for personal use, the fact that he was charged, and sentenced, under Patriot Act laws that have essentially branded him a domestic terrorist seems particularly ludicrous and disheartening.

Below is a message sent out by Cano concerning Mitchell’s and the band’s circumstances:

You know The Boxing Lesson aren’t ones to keep their mouths shut after several interviews and appearances since the release of their full length LP Wild Streaks & Windy Days. The real truth of the matter is that The Boxing Lesson have kept one of the most important parts of their story a secret. It is with much sadness we make this announcement but its time the public knows what is going on.

Jake Mitchell, drummer for The Boxing Lesson and most importantly, a dear friend, will be put in Federal jail at the beginning of Sept for some marijuana growing charges. What makes this story unique and
what has enraged every single one of our close friends, is that Jake has been branded by our government as a Terrorist under the Patriot Act. In fact, they have thrown the Narco-Terrorist tag on him. What this does legally for a defendant is mind blowing in terms of the new laws waged against them. If you are branded a terrorist, your wife doesn’t get spousal protections and will go to jail. If you are branded a terrorist, each party involved in the crime gets full responsibility for the scope of the crime. Then there are strict sentencing minimums. And remember we are talking about Marijuana here.

It is obvious from anyone who has ever met, hung out with and gotten to know Jake Mitchell that he is anything but a terrorist. This incorrect and unfair branding on our own US citizen and friend, Jake Mitchell, is a disgrace and this has caused untypical hardships on his life. He has sold his house, lost his cars, and his freedom… We know there was a crime involved but branding him a terrorist has set unfair sentencing guidelines on a person who is anything but a terrorist.

We are accepting PayPal donations to help Jake’s mounting legal bills
at : freejakemitchell@gmail.com

The Boxing Lesson has two shows next week which will be Mitchell’s last before he begins his sentence. They are playing August 27 at Emo’s Lounge and August 28 at Carousel Lounge (appropriately enough for a Monkey Wrench Books benefit). The band will continue with Kevin Sparks filling in on drums.

Under these anti-terror conspiracy laws, Jake’s ‘first time offense’ status is meaningless. This should have been a probation and fine situation. Clearly. There are real criminals out there on probation and walking the streets who are a real danger to the community. It disgusts me that people like Jake Mitchell are being locked behind bars because of some weed.

Can we get some more details? Why the classification? Was he funding M-13 or something? Was it because the fed’s had a weak case? What is the timeline? Does somebody have the court records on this? This could really be a catalyst against the Patriot Act as it stands. Since its inception its scope has steadily expanded to child pornographers to organized crime until now we have reached this point of locking up a guy that, if I am reading this correctly, was growing pot (and therefore could not be linked to funding organized crime, druglords, or other people more easily labeled a terrorist). If it scares other people as much as it is scaring me, this could really get people to take a hard look at the Patriot Act, our current state of Justice, and what it means to be American. Please provide some pointers to first sources so this story can be vetted out and brought more fully to the public consciousness. Thank you.

I agree with CRAIG! If this was an abuse of the Patriot Act (or even a legitimate allowance within it) then bringing attention to such treatment of OUR citizens will cause enough public backlash to cog the gears of these Patriot Act abuses. WHO signed off on approving this under the Patriot Act?

Is the farmer that keeps a supply of fertalizer next to be arrested because he has opposed someone with authority to arrest him under the Patriot Act? Do his Wife and Adult children go to Jail because they may be co-owners of the Farm? What if I am a customer of that farm’s products….Do I go to Jail? How far does it go?

Craig wrote: “Was he funding MS-13 or something?” If you knew these guys, you would be LOL like I am now. This guy’s a drummer in a rock band, not Tony Montana. No, I’ve never met Jake, but I’ve known Paul, the lead singer, for almost a decade, he is 100% pro-America and he would never associate with someone who was funding terrorists. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if Uncle Sam tries to use that angle. The Government is always looking for ways to stretch its power, and this is simply the newest attempt.

Please send this story to as many people as you can, news agencies, msnbc, air america, npr, etc. Ryan, please update story with details of charges, and maybe a comment from his attorney? Was he allowed representation under the “Patriot” Act?

I guarantee you journalists are calling me, Jake and his lawyer and I thank everyone for continuing to comment, repost this link and spread the word. The response has been positive as people are rightfully outraged. We just want to help spread the story and hopefully help Jake pay some legal fees. Luckily, Jake was allowed representation and his lawyer has been contact by journalist at the Statesmen and the Austin Chronicle I believe. Anyone can help by donating money to Jake and spreading the word. I will say for the record that I am not a lawyer but to my understanding Jake constitutional rights were taken away from the Patriot Act and they government used it to bypass laws to make an illegal search and seizure “legal”. And his lovely wife has had her spousal protections taken away due to this. So much for the sanctity of marriage and so much for our civil liberties.

Jake has been giving interviews so I hope that his words will give more detail to this truly aweful and un-American story.

We are tracking the details of Mitchell’s case as they emerge. As Ryan noted, several news sources have thankfully picked up on the story and are currently investigating it. We also hope to speak to Mitchell later this week, which we will share as soon as possible.

To say this is an outrage is an understatement. The government is so crazy anf screwed up right now. I’m actually speechless. I don’t know what else to say. I hope the media picks this up and more people are outraged by the crazy shit our government is pulling and Jake gets a lighter or hopefully no sentence. Pedophiles and rapists get out of the system every day. Land of the free…bullshit!

Soooooo glad to know we’re spending our time, money (that we don’t really have because it’s all going to our “efforts” in Iraq), and prison space on convicting marijuana dealers as though they were terrorists. The world is going to hell in a handbasket and must be saved from pot!!!

He was growing pot locally, and most probably was selling it and/ or smoking it locally. I thought that Orin Hatch’s logic on narco-terrorism operated under the assumption that the drugs were being imported from a country that supported terrorists. Is that an admission that the United States is a supporter of terror? Or does that make all involved with illicit drugs, regardless of the origin of the drug, supporters of terrorism? I think that we all should turn ourselves in, as loyal Americans, for this very crime. If you’ve ever smoked pot, tooted a line, took a trip, rigged up, or even took a pill for which you had no prescription, get down to your local police station and turn yourself in as a loyal American should. If you don’t, I’ll turn you in anyway. Lord knows, I don’t want to do the time for not squealing on you. This is a federal crime, be a Patriot, Comrade.

My question is: I know that under the Military Commissions Act anyone deemed an enemy combatant loses their right to trial if they are not an American citizen. The catch is, anyone deemed an enemy combatant loses their citizenship. Maybe being a “narco-terrorist” is different than being an “enemy combatant.”

So typical of those “taught” in colleges where the prof’s are allowed to smoke dope, nail their students of both sexes regardless of their own, and instead of teaching something constructive, they “teach” all of you imbecilic dolts that America is so bad.

Your treasonous oral diarrhea is just more proof that the collective stupdity of the whiny, Anti-America/Anti-American, knee-jerk, bleeding-heart (for your own, elitist kind unless you can pander to them for votes) uber liberal Democrat Party is surpassed ONLY by their incredibly breath taking and amazingly mind numbing intellectual dishonesty.

The laws that got your drug growing and dealing friend put into federal prison have been there longer than most, if not all, of you were born, they’re just now under a different umberella. He would have gotten the same sentence before September 11th that he got after, but again, you were all so busy fucking each other as well as your “teachers” while smoking dope and dropping E that you never learned anything that your poor parents could ever be proud of after spending hudreds of thousands of dollars on your sorry, pathetic and worthless asses.

Unless any one of you are this drug dealers lawyer and know the intimate details of this case, you know nothing of what you speak of and should therefore hold dear the ancient addage “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and be proven one” which you have done with shocking aptitude.

Your “friend” is a drug dealer and probably was dealing far more than he led any of you to believe, as he didn’t A: want you to know his business, and B: didn’t want any of you to narc him off, as most pussy liberals always do when they get in a pinch. I for one, don’t think that marijuana is a bad thing at all and should be legalized, but until it is, you pay the consequences for your actions and being tossed into federal prison for 60 months is one of those consequences.

So now will you all just keep your fucking mouths shut? Will you? Will you all just shut the fuck up? WILL YOU SHUT UP? WILL YOU?!? You’re making such fools out of yourselves, embarrassing yourselves and your friends who know more than you do because they actually went to school to learn something more than how to hate yourselves and your own country, so again I ask, WILL YOU ALL JUST PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP?!?!?

And since I know you all are so predictable, I’m not a “troll” or any other such excuse you make for people who actually make sense and utter folly out your spewing forth. I came across this story on another music site (you can all figure it out of you just stopped smoking so much dope, you fuckwits) and for the record, I’m a registered INDEPENDENT and personally plan on voting for either one of the current fuckwits running for the Office of President of The United States of America, a country of which I’m extremely proud of and will fight to the death to defend.

If this isn’t posted, how ironic, eh? That’s right, I’m now speaking to you Mr. Editor. You don’t have a clue that by not posting this comment, you’re EXACTLY the same person you and your ilk are railing against as being powerful enough to decide what is and is not allowed. Except you’re too busy hating this country and smoking so much dope you don’t have a fucking clue, making you, well never mind. You wouldn’t get it even if it was spelled out to you in big, black letters.

So wait…how is your stereotyping of a hypothetical “Mitchell-sympathizer” group really helping further your opinion? As far as I can tell, you’re just spouting ill-directed hatred towards some “doped up Democrats.”

I don’t smoke, I’m not a registered Democrat, and I have a strong dislike for The Boxing Lesson (see my review if you don’t believe me). In my book, it isn’t THAT he got in trouble that is the problem, but rather that the WAY in which he got fucked over is contrary to how it should have been. Though I understand the story has changed since it was first released, the original problem was as such: getting caught growing pot because of mandates intended to help prevent international terrorism shows that the rules were reframed to extend across previously unintended legal boundaries in a fashion that makes many people uneasy. This is the sole ground of legitimate arguement, and you have not responded to this question in any way.

Yes, there are some people that just feel bummed out because some pot-grower got busted and they, too, like pot, but that isn’t the heart of the issue. I am not one of them, and neither are the majority of people who read and respond to this story.

Refocus and revise your argument, kid, and stop falling victim to the same pitfalls of which you accuse others. Focus on the words “whiny”, “knee-jerk” and “stupid”.

[...] a little homegrown pot operation out of his house. What’s most disturbing is that he was convicted under the Patriot Act and has been branded a Narco-Terrorist. And it gets worse. His wife is currently serving a six month sentence as a conspirator for not [...]

[...] after original Boxing Lesson drummer Jake Mitchell was released from jail after serving time for marijuana charges. In Casual Strangers, Mitchell is joined by Boxing Lesson bandmates Paul Waclawsky (guitar/vocals), [...]